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Councillor Marsha Moseley, the Mayor of Guildford, has yesterday (Tuesday 16th November) officially opened housebuilder Barratt Southern Counties’ new Head Office in Guildford. The event marks the housebuilder’s continued investment in creating career opportunities in the town. The office opening was attended by a number of representatives from Guildford Borough Council, alongside senior figures from Barratt. The event demonstrated the importance of creating forward-thinking office space in a post-pandemi

Harrods Village, a prestigious gated development located on the banks of the River Thames, has teamed up with Interphone to implement a comprehensive maintenance solution for onsite security systems. Under the partnership, the security systems and building technology integrator has enabled Harrods Village to complete essential work and ensure door entry, access control and CCTV systems are fit for purpose.   “We have worked closely with Interphone to overcome many of the technology challenges we faced. Ou

FirstPort, the UK’s leading residential property services provider, has appointed Phil Tyler as its new Chief Digital Officer. Phil joins FirstPort’s executive team to lead on the company’s digital transformation and IT operations.    Phil brings extensive cross-sector digital transformation experience spanning over 20 years, in roles across energy, finance, telecoms and health. His previous roles include Head of Global Programme Delivery for Gazprom Marketing & Trading, Chief Operating Officer of a digit

The Property Franchise Group have chosen B-hive Block Management Partners for its Franchisees that want to be Block Managers. B-hive is the Partners division of HML Group, the block management specialists who manage over 100,000 units in England and Wales. B-hive is an outsourced service provider, that operates independently from HML but benefits from being able to offer all of the service charge accounting, compliance, training and central services to third parties. The TPFG brands are Martin & Co, Ellis

New-build homes are being cited as an essential part of the UK’s plan to build back better. In fact, 49,470 new homes were completed in the first quarter of 2021. That’s the highest figure in over 20 years and a four per cent increase compared to the last three months of 2020. But as families begin new lives in their new homes, we should consider how this rapid rise in households affects Santa Claus’ Christmas schedule. New data from St. Modwen Homes reveals the true impact of the UK’s housing boom for

The Top 50+50 Accountancy Firms 2021 has been revealed and Whitley Stimpson has been officially ranked within the Top 100 firms in the UK for the eighth year running.   The rankings by the prestigious Accountancy Age 50+50 survey collate the top 100 accountancy firms in the UK and identifies Whitley Stimpson as a leading player in the country.   To achieve the national honor, Whitley Stimpson’s revenue and growth were measured against accounting firms throughout the country.   Jonathan Walton, director at

A finance specialist with more than a dozen years’ experience in the property sector has joined fast-expanding Principle Estate Management.   The appointment of Andrew Cleverley as a service charge accountant means Principle’s team in that area has grown by 50% to three, with the residential management company’s total staffing now standing at 38.   Mr Cleverley joins Principle after four years working in service charge accounts at Centrick Property, and another eight years working as a cashier at GVA Grim

Specialist property debt collection firm, Realty Law Limited, has announced the expansion of its Birmingham-based team with the appointment of eight new staff. The new hires are led by senior residential property litigator Liz Rowen, a former partner of law firm Keebles, that was recently acquired by Knights. She is joined by former Knights colleagues, Evie Britton, Kirsty Elliott, Cherice St Louis, Abby France and Sam Cooper, as well as two new administration assistants. Realty recently an

We held our first Winter Conference at the Queen Elizabeth ll Centre in Westminster on 1 December. The event – our first to be held in-person for almost two years – was a resounding success, with more than 500 members in the conference hall. IRPM seminars and conferences are now widely accepted as the leading knowledge and networking events in our sector, and it was great to see so many of you there after two annual seminars that have been held online due to the pandemic. The day began with an address fro

Zurich Insurance Group has extended its sponsorship of the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners (ALEP) for an additional year.   The global insurance company has been one of ALEP’s primary sponsors since 2019 and has supported the Association’s growth into one of the leading voices in the leasehold sector.   Clare Grove, ALEP’s Communications and Marketing Manager, said: “We are thrilled that Zurich has decided to renew their sponsorship of ALEP for another year. The company has be

Private rental sector (“PRS”) and Build to Rent (“BTR”) residential and urban regeneration specialist, Sigma Capital Group (“Sigma”), has strengthened its team with four new appointments across Manchester, London and Edinburgh, taking its full UK team head count to [50]   Following Sigma’s acquisition by pan-European private equity specialist, PineBridge Benson Elliot, in June 2021 for almost £200 million, the next phase of growth will see Sigma deliver circa 15,000 - 20,000 new rental homes over the next

The winners for the News on the Block Awards 2021 were announced at our prestigious awards ceremony on 30th November at Old Billingsgate, London.  We had over 1000 guests in attendance who celebrated the achievements of their peers over the last 18 months, making this our biggest event to date!    After such challenging times we were delighted to welcome you all back and bring both ERMAs and PMAs audiences together.  May we take this opportunity to thank our panel of judges who had an extremely difficult